a. Argument: Argument is an opinion, idea or personal judgment about any subject matter. It is very important in academic writing because different arguments help the readers to identify, analyze and understand the text from different angles and equally helpful to draw broader conclusion. Oxford Advance Learner Dictionary says argument is a conversation or discussion in which two or more people disagree, often angrily. So argument is a kind of criticism to the point or subject matter.
b. Cause and Effect: Cause and effect is also an important element or factor of academic writing. Writers generally write because there is cause to write. If something is written, then obviously there are effects of the text. It may not be in personal, informal or nonacademic writing but a most in academic writing. Why something happens, because of the cause of something. There are some useful conjunctions while writing academic text for both cause and effect we use because of, since, as, owing to, due to, to refer cause whereas so, therefore, consequently which is why to show the effect of something.
c. Cohesion: Cohesion means linking phrases together so that the whole text is clear and readable. It is achieved by several methods, such as the use of conjunctions. It is the linking of phrases and sentences with words like he, they and that which refer back to something mentioned before:
Cohesion can be classified into two categories: grammatical cohesion and logical cohesion.
Grammatical cohesion can be achieved by the use of grammatical cohesion devices such as substitution, reference (who, whose, which, where, when as relative pronouns) determiners, sentence conjunction and connectives. Sentence adjuncts etc
Lexical cohesion: cohesion among content words is called lexical cohesion. Apart from sound patterns (which carry alliteration, assonance, and rhyme) they may be associated in a text through shared semantic features. Lexical cohesion is created by repeated use of content words. Cohesion helps to bring coherence.
d. Comparison: Comparison refers to associate or differentiate two different or similar things or subject matters. Comparison is important to make comprehend the readers about the topic in question. If we are writing about something it is better to use comparison not only for writer to express what he/she wants but also to the reader to draw correct conclusion and understand properly. There are two basic comparative forms they are (–er) and “more” for example Mack is faster runner than John. David is more attractive than Tim. The formula is single or two syllabic words take –er form whereas more than two syllabic words take more for comparison but there are exceptional case such as simple =simpler or more simple etc. To make our writing more exact you better to use slightly, much, considerably, far or slightly before the comparative, eg. Honda Bike is slightly more economic than pulsar bike. The writer can use ‘as…as’ to stress similarity.
e) Discussion: Discussion is an essential element of academic writing. It is one of the important elements of speaking skill in language. It refers to the opinion, ideas which put forward in groups or pairs to a subject matter. It is essential for the development of speaking skill. There are two type of discussion, the first one is spontaneous discussion and the second is planned discussion. Spontaneous discussion is rare inside a class but both type of discussion have the great advantage in the development of speaking skill. As a result, most teachers would like to organize discussion session on a more formal basis. Many of them find that plan discussion sessions are less successful than they had hoped. Many essay titles require the writer to examine both sides of a case, and to conclude by coming down in favor of one side. These may be called discussion, ‘for and against’ or argument.
